Water – Global South Policy Review

World’s rivers drying up: World Meteorological Organization issues stark climate warning

Euro News

Last year was the driest year for global rivers in 33 years, warns a new report coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). According to the State of Global Water Resources report, the past five years have seen below-normal conditions for river flows and reservoir inflows worldwide, increasing stress on global water supplies.
The annual report paints the big picture of the world’s water cycle, from extreme floods to extreme droughts, from rivers and reservoirs to glaciers and groundwater.

Climate change and adaptive water management: innovative solutions from the global South

Charlotte MacAlister

Climate change is one of the most pressing threats to sustainable development across the globe. The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2014) notes that 93% of the impacts associated with climate change will be felt in the water sector. Climate change is already altering precipitation patterns and snowmelt, impacting the frequency and magnitude of floods and droughts, and contributing to more extreme weather events and wildfires globally. Availability of renewable surface and groundwater resources is likely to decrease significantly…

If we want to better understand the climate-regulating role of Earth’s oceans, we must increase the effort we put into observing them, with a focus on our planet’s largest heat sink, the Southern Ocean.

Climate change and adaptive water management: innovative solutions from the global south

Charlotte MacAlister

Nigeria’s new blue economy ministry could harness marine resources – moving the focus away from oil

Isa Olalekan Elegbede

Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced a new ministerial portfolio in August: Marine and Blue Economy.

More than 200 scientists from 19 countries want to tell us the Southern Ocean is in trouble

Andrew J Constable

Andrew J Constable, University of Tasmania and Jess Melbourne-Thomas, CSIRO While the Southern Ocean around Antarctica has been warming for decades, the annual extent of winter sea ice seemed relatively stable – compared to the Arctic. In some areas Antarctic sea ice was even increasing. That was until 2016, when

Studying Asian glaciers provides glimpse into future of extremes

Aisling Irwin

High Mountain Asia includes ranges that span the borders of Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, India, China and Pakistan. The rate of glacier melting has doubled here in the last 20 years – except for glaciers in the Karakoram and Kunlun ranges where, since the 1990s, they have been stable or have

Photo 1: An aerial picture taken on July 15, 2021, shows the Jordan river flowing through the Beteha (Bethsaida Valley) into the northern part of the Sea of Galilee, or Lake Tiberias, one of the main water sources in Israel. As scientific warnings of dire climate change-induced drought grow, many in Israel and Jordan cast worried eyes at the river running between them and the critical but limited resources they share. Source: MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP

Israel-Palestine conflict: How sharing the waters of the Jordan River could be a pathway to peace

Zafar Adeel

Zafar Adeel, Simon Fraser University When the Israeli government cut off supplies of water to the Gaza Strip following Hamas’s brutal attack, it put the role of water within human conflict into particularly sharp relief. Debate on the notion of “water wars” has raged among water experts for nearly four

When communities face drinking-water crises, bottled water is a ‘temporary’ solution that often lasts years − and worsens inequality

Daniel Jaffee

Daniel Jaffee, Portland State University A massive intrusion of salt water into the Mississippi River has left the tap water in several Louisiana communities unsafe to drink and could threaten the New Orleans metropolitan area. The most visible emergency response is the provision of bottled water, with authorities distributing huge

The Ganges River and its surrounding watershed support one of the most fertile and densely populated regions on the planet. © yakthai, Shutterstock.com

In India, natural ways to clean up wastewater promise big benefits

Helen Massy-Beresford

Winding its way through the mountains and plains of northern India, the Ganges River is sacred to the Hindu religion. More prosaically, its water and nutrients are vital to the region’s farmland, hundreds of millions of residents and India’s economy. The Ganges is personified as Ganga, the Hindu goddess of

In 2022, California built an emergency drought barrier across the West False River near Oakley to protect against saltwater intrusion. AP Photo/Terry Chea

What is seawater intrusion? A hydrogeologist explains the shifting balance between fresh and salt water at the coast

Holly Michael

Holly Michael, University of Delaware Seawater intrusion is the movement of saline water from the ocean or estuaries into freshwater systems. The seawater that has crept up the Mississippi River in the summer and early fall of 2023 is a reminder that coastal communities teeter in a fragile land-sea balance.

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